Corruption and Manipulation
[QUOTE=SavePros321; 1112197]I can only go by what the people who actually live there have to say about it:
[b][i]"Honest people don't go into politics in Haiti. To be in politics you have yo belong to a closed circle of men who think only of themselves, who at times can resort to killing."[/i][/b]
-Port-au-Prince Police Chief who has survived 2 assassination attempts believed to be ordered by politicians.
@23:16 in the video.
[b][i]"Corruption is not only in the Justice system. In Haiti, corruption is everywhere. You have corruption in the customs, you have corruption in the tax office."[/i][/b]
-Former Minister of Justice.
@34:19 in the video.
[b][i]"The Red Cross, USAID, World Vision, those people care, they want to help us. But our leaders won't sit down with us."[/i][/b]
-Mr. Osay (spelling) , a resident who lost everything in the earthquake.
@38:40 in the video.
He later goes on to [email]say@39[/email]:10:
[b][i]"It's economic power which makes you an adult. It's not your age, it's your economic power. In Haiti, the system is so rotten that whatever your age, you always remain a child"[/i][/b]
The Video: Battle for Haiti (PBS Frontline Documentary) :
[url]http://video.pbs.org/video/1737171448[/url]
[b]NOTE: The people in the video are not blaming their corruption problems on outside forces like the US or Canada. [/b][/QUOTE]Yes, corruption is endemic in Haiti. The Haitian Government only controls the airport and ports, a few cops, not much else. The MINUSTAH controls the country, probably to protect the incredibly corrupt and cruel Haitian elite from the ravenous Haitian masses. Aristide disbanded the US-trained Haitian Army and UN forces are the only way the Americans can hold on to the reins of power in Haiti.
Those people on the video confirm the awful nature of the system, such as there is of one. However, you fail to address the question: why is Haiti in such dire straits (or fucked up as you put it). Corruption is rife in the Dominican Republic as well. Mexico is sick with corruption yet Haiti is far worse. Corruption is a nasty symptom, not the disease. Arguably, without USA, French, and Canadian interference, Haiti probably would still be as corrupt as most Caribbean countries but the lot of the people would be far better (with their self-sufficiency in rice, their livestock intact, etc.) than now and, with a functioning state that doesn't depend on thousands of NGOs, the earthquake rebuilding would have gone much better.
I am unable to watch the video link as I don't live in the USA but I am hardly surprised that no mention is made of USA interference given that PBS is a US government-funded institution, even if PBS has a "liberal" reputation. I know that many Americans are loathe to think that their government can be up to very nasty tricks bordering on genocide (Haiti, Guatemala in the 1980's, etc.). The truth hurts. The American people are, for the most part, very decent, very nice people. A shame that is not the case for much of the State Department. There are reasons in much of the world why the US Government is seethingly loathed while individual Americans are, for the most part, well-liked.
I still say that reading the books I mentioned is much, much more thorough and informative than watching a 55 minute long video. Try.
[url]www.haitian-truth.org[/url]
Or.
[url]www.haitiananalysis.com[/url]
For more thorough information on the situation in Haiti.
I talked to many Haitians in July last year and all of them despised most NGOs. They mistrusted me at first because, ironically, I speak Creole but when they were convinced I was no NGO person or fucking missionary, they opened up. They are suffering and resent the American / UN / NGO occupation though they are desperate for their scraps and whatever they can get from them. The tent people, the Haitian peasants, etc. Might be ignorant and largely illiterate but they know why the popular leader Aristide (twice elected by huge majorities, twice removed by US machinations) was whisked away and why he is unable to return (in violation of the Haitian Constitution, such as it is). The Haitians are very politically aware which explains why 72. 9 % did NOT vote in the November 28 sham elections.
It is hard to believe that the Dominican Republic got its independence not from Spain but from Haiti. Amazing how the tables have turned but the reasons are easy to find.
Perhaps some people on the thread might not appreciate this discussion about Haiti on the Sosúa thread but at least they should know why there are (or were) so many Haitian women in Sosúa and their desperate plight. Sorry but in light of the crackdown on Haitians in Sosúa and in memory of the 300, 000 earthquake victims, it was worth my time to discuss the tragedy of Haiti. My favourite girls were all Haitian there.
The ones running the show
[QUOTE=SavePros321; 1112236]That's fine. The point I was trying to make is that a year after the earthquake where people are still living in tent cities and squalor, if that is not "fucked up" then I don't know what is. The aid money has been pledge to Haiti by multiple countries, but somehow a year later it has not found it's way to the people who actually need it.
All of this was in response to previous post about Haitians being rounded up like cattle in the DR and being shipped back to "nothing" in Haiti. But as I said, it is no ones fault that Haiti is (for a better choice of words) still in dire straits, save for the people over there running the show. If you read any of my post you will also see that I am also fond of Haitian women.
[/QUOTE]Then we are in complete agreement. The bastards running the country are to blame. No doubt whatsoever about it. It is abundantly clear that Haitians are NOT in charge of their country. The Haitian Government, such as it was, was particularly hard struck by the 2010 quake. Many important officials were killed outright when their buildings collapsed on them. The tenuous, nearly invisible Haitian State lies in ruins as I write this. Even the Presidential Palace, the very symbol of the Haitian Government, totally destroyed, has not even been rebuilt. Indeed, work hasn't even begun on it. While there are some Haitian police, the real security lies with the UN forces. Nearly all of the money earmarked for Haiti moves through NGOs or Clinton's organization (ironically, Clinton arguably did far more harm to Haiti than Bush I or Bush II did, and that is saying a lot). For all the billions promised, precious little is getting through (admittedly, the cash-strapped but venal Haitian Port Authorities--the only real visible vestige of the Haitian State which is unable to collect taxes in a normal way-- are grasping for money by forcing the cash-rich NGOs to cough up money for much needed supplies but if the Americans, French, and Canadians put their foot down a bit, this would immediately disappear).
In any case, I never doubted that you didn't like Haitians.
In short, the Haitians are NOT in charge of their own country any more. Nearly all government functions are in UN, OAS, NGO or private hands (the only thing working right in Haiti are the phone companies, one of which is owned by the Communist Vietnamese Army, Viettel...... Oh, the irony!). In view of this, the ones to blame for the extreme suffering in Haiti today are precisely those in charge, the bastards who are really running the show in Haiti: the UN, OAS (and their sponsors: US government, Canada, and France) , as well as the often self-serving, squabbling, uncoordinated but well-funded NGOs (often evangelical cults poaching on the people in a Jesus-friendly jihad against the Vodou religion).
Note: Thanks Bq ribs for your comments. Ironically, some of the very best information I have found on the internet has come from ISG including insider information about the coup d'état in Thailand. The ISG is not only about intercourse and female anatomy and where to get it.
Keep unrelated information OUT!
I come to this site to get information about the topic that this blog is all about. I am going through pages of unrelated information.
Whoever wants to discuss world politics and corruption in Haiti please go to another blog.
The End of Sosúa as we know it?
[QUOTE=David_33; 1112374]Yes Jackson, maybe all these posts should be moved to the Haiti thread.
But one final comment: IMHO Haiti was much better off with "Baby Doc" then with USA imposed "democracy". There is a stark contrast between the former (full of factories and with almost no crime or violence) , and the latter which speaks for itself. Haiti now appears to be the "feeding trough" for NGOs and foreign bureaucrats. [/QUOTE]I discovered the world of Haiti in Sosúa, believe it or not. That is where I started learning Creole (since I already know Spanish fluently). It looks like Sosúa is undergoing a sea change. Is it the case that Sosúa will be for "family-oriented" tourism and not for the mongerer? If there are no working girls milling around the bars or beaches during the day, where is the charm of Sosúa? On top of that, if the Haitian girls are gone, where is the fun, pizzaz?
I really like the New Garden Hotel but I could tell that there were barriers to Haitian girls coming in to hang out around the pool while it was OK for Dominicans. The Dominican girls saw to that. This is one reason why I just might not be going back to Sosúa. I love Herman's Siempre Sol and drinking Presidentes during the day at the beach but I suppose all good things come to an end.
My very last comments about Haiti on this thread, I promise!
As for David 33's comments, all I can say that Baby Doc, like his father, was a veritable disaster for Haiti. Although there was a functioning Haitian state in those days, it was a primitive state whose only virtue was that it was anti-Communist. The oppressive apparatus, personified by the bespectacled TonTon Macoutes (watch the old movie "The Comedians" with Richard Burton) , did nothing for the country except maintain the Duvalier family in power and ensure the US that leftwing types would never be in power. Sure, there were factories and there was a "peace of the cemetery", but thousands of victims of the state terrorism wrought by the Duvaliers could testify that it was not good for the people in general. Hell, one could say that Hitler did a lot to relieve Germany of her chronic unemployment but at what price?
